A Rebel's Recollections

Eggleston, George Cary, 1839-1911Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 302K words
Chapters: 31

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Rebel's Recollections by George Cary EgglestonAuthor: Eggleston, George Cary, 1839-1911,Language: English, Class: E456: History: America: Civil War period (1861-1865), Release Date: Feb 14, 2016

Editor's review

A Rebel's Recollections is a Civil War memoir by the American writer George Cary Eggleston, based on his own experiences and classified under U.S. Civil War history (E456). Its value lies not in providing a grand military history or precise data, but in presenting, from the perspective of a Confederate participant, ordinary soldier and junior officer, the daily life, marches, morale, scarcity of supplies and postwar mindset of the war. The author's narrative carries clear personal bias and the prejudices of his era; precisely for this reason it becomes a primary source for understanding Southern memory and the diversity of Civil War narratives. Stylistically it leans toward essay-like recollection, is not long, and is strongly narrative, making it suitable as supplementary historical reading rather than the sole basis for war history. Readers should remain constantly aware of the narrator's standpoint and selective memory, and compare it with materials from other sides and identities for greater benefit. As a public-domain e-book, it is easily accessible and suitable for extended reading in American history courses or casual reading by those interested in nineteenth-century American society.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Civil War history enthusiasts who want to add a firsthand personal perspective from the Southern side
History students who need memoir-type historical sources for textual analysis practice
General readers interested in nineteenth-century American society and wartime daily life
Readers who enjoy narrative history and prefer a moderate length

Not a good fit for

Researchers who need systematic military history, precise battle data and scholarly annotations
Readers who expect a neutral, objective narrative and do not wish to examine the author's standpoint

Reading tips

Read the publication information and author introduction first, clarify his Confederate identity, then proceed to the main text.
Mark strongly biased passages as you read and compare them with sources from the Northern perspective.
Treat the memoir as a historical source rather than a conclusion, focusing on depictions of wartime daily life and mindset.
Use a Civil War timeline to help place personal recollections within the chronological context.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a complete military history of the Civil War?

No. It is a personal memoir focused on the author's own experiences and observations of Southern society; its coverage is limited and it does not aim for systematic completeness of battle details. To understand the overall course of the war, supplement it with general histories and read this book as an additional perspective.

Does the author's standpoint affect the source's historical value?

It introduces bias but does not erase value. The selective memory and defensive tone in the memoir are themselves objects of study, reflecting how the postwar South narrated the war. As long as readers remain critical and read it alongside materials from different sides, they can gain details while avoiding being carried away by a single narrative.

Is the English original difficult to read?

Overall it is nineteenth-century essay-style English, with rather long sentences and older vocabulary, but it is strongly narrative and not especially difficult. Readers with university-level English reading ability can read it through with a dictionary; those who only want to understand the content can first read the introduction and chapter summaries to grasp the outline.

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About the author

Eggleston, George Cary, 1839-1911 Author

George Cary Eggleston (1839–1911) was an American author, with fifteen of his works held in this collection. Public information about him is limited, so the details of his life are difficult to set out fully, yet his writings reveal where his main interests lay. He wrote memoirs such as A Rebel's Recollections and Recollections of a Varied Life, as well as the two-volume The History of the Confederate War, Its Causes and Its Conduct, showing a sustained attention to lived history and the course of war. He also wrote novels including Evelyn Byrd, Camp Venture: A Story of the Virginia Mountains, and The Wreck of the Red Bird: A Story of the Carolina Coast, whose subjects often involve life in the southern mountains and along the coast. His works are classified here as inspirational and coming-of-age writing, and his style tends toward narrative and documentary prose, combining personal observation with historical account.